The Book Rack Newsletter

It just makes sense to buy your books at The Book Rack!

Vol 12, #10October 2019563-355-2310

Store Hours: 10:00 - 6:00 Daily (except New Years Day, Easter, July 4,Thanksgiving and Christmas)http://www.thebookrackqc.com/

BookRackQC@Gmail.com

Trivia for OctoberWho is the subject of the unauthorized 1997 biography

entitled The Good, the Bad and the Very Ugly?

Our October

$25 Gift Certificate Winners!We try to give away four (4) $25.00 Gift Certificates to The Book Rack

account holders each month.

The names are selected from all our registered customers who haveregistered and/or had a trade or purchase since 1 October 2017.

All a winner has to do is read the newsletter and find your name listedbelow, then come in and claim your reward. No purchase is required and

you don't have to register separately from your initial account registration.

The October 2019 winner #1 is:

Rebecca Shaw

See the other 3 winning names elsewhere in the newsletter,below. Find your name and just call or stop at the store on or

before November 1, 2019 to claim your prize:

A $25 gift certificate from The Book Rack!

Did You Know:Author's Modus Operandi

Ernest Hemingway always stopped writing when he was,as he put it, 'going well' so that he wouldn't face the

prospect of an empty page when he restarted.

October Holidays and Events at The Book Rack:

Month: Breast Cancer Awareness Month International Drum Month

National Diabetes Month

National Pizza Month

National Vegetarian Month

National Popcorn Popping Month

Sarcastic Month

Day:October 1 – International Coffee Day4 – World Smile Day5 – Local Author Bob Bancks will be at The Book Rack 11-1:00.5 – Do Something Nice Day5 – National Teachers Day12 – Local Author Devin Hansen will be at The Book Rack 11-1:00.13 – International Skeptics Day14 – Columbus Day14 – National Dessert Day19 – David Dorris, Local Author, Book Signing at The Book Rack 11-1:0019 – Sweetest Day - a day dedicated just for your sweetie.

25 – Frankenstein Friday27 – Mother-in-Law Day27 – Navy Day31 – Halloween November 2 – Local Author Patty Joy will be at The Book Rack 11-1:00

Books We NeedJordan Peterson: 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos

Diana Gabaldon: A Breath of Snow and AshesAmor Tolles: A Gentleman in Moscow

Danielle Steel: A Gift of Hope: Helping the HomelessJodi Picoult: A Spark of Light

Anna Todd: After We Collided (The After Series)Neil Gaiman: American Gods: A NovelDiana Gabaldon: An Echo in the Bone

Jason Reynolds: As Brave As YouCraig Johnson: As the Crow Flies: A Walt Longmire Mystery (A Longmire Mystery)

Danielle Steel: Beauchamp Hall: A NovelMichelle Obama: Becoming

Heather Gudenkauf: Before She Was FoundLisa Wingate: Before We were Yours

Janette Oke: Beyond the Gathering Storm (Canadian West #5)Joanne DeMaio: Blue Jeans and Coffee Beans

(Yeah, I know. They're not in alpha order by author. But, they are in alpha orderby title!!)

Featured AuthorsBob Bancks, Devin Hansen, David Dorris & Patty Jo

Bob Bancks

Bob and his wife, Jane, live on the family farm which was established in 1868 by his great grandfather. The farm has grown since its beginning , from the original 80 acres to 640 acres. Bob was raised on the farm. He worked and played there all his life. The pastures and corn fields are featured in his stories. Bob and Jane raised three sons and taught them the rewards of diligent work. After farming for 48 years they retired in 2008.Bob started writing as a hobby. He had written some small essays before and some church skits, but never a novel. In fact, his first novel was “The Nightgown” released in 2011.To his surprise, he discovered readers actually liked his prose. He continues to write using the thoughts from his many hours in the tractor or combine cab. His writings give a different perspective on the lives of rural America. His stories take the reader on a trip which reveals not all rural living is drudgery and heart ache, but there are many fun and romantic times involved.

Bob will be at The Book Rack on October 5 11-1:00 visiting with past fans and new. Stop in, if you can and pick up Bob's latest book. If you can't make it, copies of all 5 of Bob's books are available at The Book Rack in the store or at TheBookRackQC.com

EdieWritten By Bob Bancks

Published July 2019

In the early part of the twentieth century little girls were to play with dolls. Edie would rather play baseball and walk the creek banks looking for arrowheads with Pete, her one classmate at the one room Patterson School. She is tomboy and playing with Pete, even though he is the boss’ son, it didn’t matter. Friends were scarce in rural Iowa. One September, a

red-headed Irish boy named Sean transferred to the one room school. To Edie, Sean was a nice six grader and nothing special. Sean endured Edie as a pesky third grader. In time, their fathers changed jobs. Sean moved totown and worked in a button factory. Edie’s family rented her grandmother’s farm and Edie moved to another rural school and left Pete.When Edie is seventeen, she meets Sean again at a dance. They immediately fell in love. Their romance ebbed and flowed because of the prejudices of the time. The Great War tears them apart. Edie helps her father on the farm and tackles many jobs considered not proper for a woman in the early 20th Century. Because of her work ethic, Edie becomesa champion for women’s rights.Sean comes home a war hero, but in Edie’s father’s eyes he is still a Catholic and Irish. Will fate intervene again?Pete becomes involved with criminal activities and brings the Chicago mob to rural Iowa. Edie is hired by her old friend as a chef to provide manysumptuous meals for his clients. One of these meetings turns ugly and puts everyone including Edie in danger.Will Edie survive to be the mother, wife, farmer, and friend of many in her neighborhood?

Local Author #2: Devin Hansen

Guts: The Lane Evans Story Lane Evans was arguably one of the most progressive members of the U.S. Congress during his 12-term tenure in a Midwestern swing district. In “Guts: The Lane Evans Story”, author Devin Hansen explores Lane's career as a man who had the guts to vote his conscience rather than what was politically expedient, and chronicles his fighting spirit during those final years enduring Parkinson's disease. In Hansen's telling, Lane is proofthat a politician can be truthful and idealistic - and still win.Lane Evans earned wide-spread respect from both sides of the aisle for his honesty, intelligence, and relentless commitment to veterans' issues and his constituents. Lane passed in 2014 from complications brought on by Parkinson's, but his life and legacy endure in these pages.“This is Lane Evans. As I know him. Guts and all." Hansen is quoted as saying in a John Marx article in the Rock Island Argus, September 19, 2019.

Local Author #3: David DorrisAuthor of

The Westside Kids Meet The Small Fry

There is Danger, Excitement, Adventure, in “The Westside Kids Meet The Small Fry.” This is the story of Rex Tarillo, a chemistry instructor at the University of Davenport. The West Side Kids Motorcycle Gang are in one of his classes, and due to chemicals getting mixed up, Rex becomes a dwarf. There is Hannibal, the gang’s leader, who, through his communication, destroys the English language with misspelled and misused words. Then there is Scooter, who has a passion to work with chemicals and is Hannibal’s lifelong friend. T. J. Columbo appears on the scene as a police officer and Hannibal’s uncle. Margret Mason is Rex Tarillo’s girlfriend, who goes on a crime spree with Rex and helps him rob

and shrink people with Rex’s chemicals, putting terror in Davenport, Iowa. The West Side Kids team up with Hannibal’s uncle Columbo to try to stop and catch the small fry. Read and find out what the little fellows’ plans are to do something big in The West Side Kids Meet the Small Fry.

About the Author

David retired after working thirty-five years at Ralston Purina. He coached Dad's Softball for thirty years. He always taught the kids that played for him that life is like a sport, which encouraged him to write his other three books, “Life Is Too Short", “Life Is Too Short: Choices In Life" and "Life Is Too Short: Life Is What We Make It". David would joke around once in a while about writing a short story about a Dwarf going around robbing and killing people. This Dwarf was caught by the police and was sentenced to the electric chair by a judge. David was going to call this short story, SmallFry. A friend of his suggested he write a book about Small Fry. After thinking about it, David came up with a more detailed version of Small Fry and The Westside Kids Meet The Small Fry is the result.

Local Author #4: Patty Joy

Patty Joy juggles many hats while homeschooling her four children, including chauffeur, scout leader, swimming and soccer coach, secretary and cook, adding creative writing in her free time. Though her husband does not own a restaurant, she often wishes he did, as the whole family agrees that he is the better chef. She has lived in Illinois with her family forover twenty years, half of those providing first-hand experience of the joysof small-town life.

An Education in Murder While homeschooling her five children in her small town, Rainbow Bailey spends her days knee deep in lesson plans, laundry and science projects. Between helping run her husband’s sandwich shop and preparing for the

town fundraiser, Rainbow’s plate is full.One night off, she discovers a body wrapped in plastic and tossed into a dumpster, turning her whole world upside down.

Charlottesville's new chief of police, fresh from the big city, is struggling to adjust to small-town life. With no good clues to follow, sets his eyes on Rainbow as the prime suspect.Will Rainbow and her kids, with their unending curiosity and thirst for answers, be able to convince Chief Flint that she had nothing to do with poor Harmless Harvey's death?

Patty Joy will be at The Book Rack November 2, 11-1:00. Please stop in,visit with her and check out her book. Patty is another of the fine local

authors too few readers have the privilege to have read. Take your nameoff that list!

The October 2019 Winner #2 is:

Craig Schnoor

Book ReviewsThe Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (2011)

The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is calledLe Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night.But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway--a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the

stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love--a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands.True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus performers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead.Written in rich, seductive prose, this spell-casting novel is a feast for the senses and the heart.Review Quotes:Praise for THE NIGHT CIRCUS:"The Night Circus made me happy. Playful and intensely imaginative, Erin Morgenstern has created the circus I have always longed for and she has populated it with dueling love-struck magicians, precocious kittens, hyper-elegant displays of beauty and complicated clocks. This is a marvelous book."-- Audrey Niffenegger, author of The Time Traveler's Wife"'Dark as soot and bright as sparks, 'The Night Circus still holds me willingly captive in a world of almost unbearable beauty. This is a love story on a grand scale: it creates, it destroys, it ultimately transcends. Take a bow, Erin Morgenstern. This is one of the best books I have ever read."--Brunonia Barry, author of The Lace Reader "The Night Circus is a gorgeously imagined fable poised in the high latitudes of Hans Christian Anderson and Oscar Wilde, with a few degrees toward Hesse's "Steppenwolf" for dangerous spice. The tale is masterfully written and invites allegorical interpretations even as its leisurely but persistent suspense gives it compelling charm. An enchanting read."--Katherine Dunn, author of Geek Love I loved this book! So much that I ordered her soon to be released second book, The Starless Sea (Nov 2019), when I was but half-way through this one. Morgenstern truly wrote a masterpiece. She is quoted as saying her works are all “fairy tales in one way or another.” This one is masterful. How she could create such an amazing place as the circus and people it with a cast of dazzling talents and venues and convey her story in such remarkable text is beyond me. I've no choice but to give it an A+. If you love great, contemporary literature, you will find your investment in time and money to be a great investment!

Knife by Jo Nesbo (2019)

Brilliant, audaciously rogue police officer, Harry Hole from The Snowman and The Thirst,is back and in the throes of a new, unanticipated rage--once again hunting the murderer who has haunted his entire career.Harry Hole is not in a good place. Rakel--the only woman he's ever loved--has ended it with him, permanently. He's been given a chance for a new start with the Oslo Police but it's in the cold case office, when what he really wants is to beinvestigating cases he suspects have ties to Svein Finne, the serial rapist and murderer who Harry helped put behind bars. And now, Finne is free after a decade-plus in prison--free, and Harry is certain, unreformed and ready to take up where he left off. But things will get worse. When Harry wakes up the morning after a blackout, drunken night with blood that's clearly not his own on his hands, it's only the very beginning of what will be a waking nightmare the likes of which even he could never have imagined.

"[Knife is] a book that contains at once the Harry we have come to expect and the Harry we hoped was somewhere underneath all that Hole bravado. ... The book's abundant subplots are miraculously tied together in a violent, remarkably satisfying denouement. Most importantly, though, there's still the emphatically compassionate, stubbornly singular creation that is Harry Hole. It's good to find him still on our side."--Steve Whitton, The Anniston Star

If you've read Nesbo's Harry Hole novels before you'll understand Whitton's comments. If you've not read Nesbo, he's highly recommended. “Knife” is his latest book and vintage Nesbo. Harry battles his demons while also battling the established police administration. The ending is startling. I give “Knife” an A-. Another Nesbo winner.

Bee Season by Myla Goldberg (2001)

Eliza Naumann, a seemingly unremarkable nine-year-old, expects never to fit into her gifted family: her autodidact father, Saul, absorbed in his study of Jewish mysticism; her brother, Aaron, the vessel of his father's spiritual ambitions; and her brilliant but distant lawyer-mom, Miriam. But when Eliza sweeps her school and district spelling bees in quick succession, Saul takes it as a sign that she is destined for greatness. In this altered reality, Saul inducts her into his hallowed study and lavishes upon her the attention previously reserved for Aaron, who in his displacement embarks upon a lone quest for spiritual fulfillment. When Miriam's secret life triggers a familial explosion, it is Eliza who must order the chaos.Myla Goldberg's keen eye for detail brings Eliza's journey to three-dimensional life. As she rises from classroom obscurity to the blinding lights and outsized expectations of the National Bee, Eliza's small pains and large joys are finely wrought and deeply felt.Not merely a coming-of-age story, Goldberg's first novel delicately examines the unraveling fabric of one family. The outcome of this tale is as startling and unconventional as her prose, which wields its metaphors sharply and rings with maturity. The work of a lyrical and gifted storyteller.

If you love great writing you need to read this book. It's a “honey.” In the description it referenced how Goldberg “wields it's metaphors sharply.” That waswhat struck me throughout the book. I've never read a book with so many metaphors and ALL of them were exactly on point! The story line is wonderfully developed and you'll love Eliza. It's far more than a story about a spelling bee, though that's an integral part. I give it an A. Find it – read it.

Nice Weekend for a Murder, A Mallory Mystery by Max Allan Collins (1986)

A mountaintop mansion. A motley collection of guests. A murder. This weekend has all the makings of a classic, cozy mystery story. And a story is all it’s supposed to be—acted out by noted authors and eager fans at the atmospheric Mohonk Mountain House resort in upstate New York.

Along with a gaggle of his peers, Mallory’s been invited to join the fun by donning a costume and an alter-ego to pose as a “suspect.” But before you can say “nobody leaves this room!”, Mallory is once again thrust into the role of driven detective when the game’s designated “corpse” turns up decidedly dead.

There’s no doubt that the victim, notorious mystery-novel critic Kirk Rath, incited the murderous wrath of nearly every writer he reviewed. But even the most scathing critical barbs never drove a writer to put down the pen in favor of the sword. And even Mallory is baffled by the curious circumstances surrounding themystery within a mystery. Did he actually witness Rath being run through by a masked figure in the snowy darkness? Was Rath really spotted alive and sneering after the bloody fact? Is someone playing mind games? And is everyone in the house fair game?

Murder will out, as they say. But can even the masterful Mallory outwit a roguish gallery of the finest plotters in print?

QC local author Max Collins (Muscatine) does another masterful job crafting thismystery. Have you ever been to a mystery solving weekend? If so, you may particularly enjoy this book. As with most of Collins' books, this is fairly short andwould fit nicely following a long-g-g-g thriller or mystery when you need a somewhat lighter load. I always find Collins' books quite good and give this one an A-.

The Simple Truth by David Baldacci (1998)

Young attorney Michael Fiske broke the law when he took Rufus Harms' prison letter from the Supreme Court. But he also sealed his own fate. Suddenly everyone who has anything to do with Harms or his appeal mysteriously dies. Now Michael's brother john, a cop turned attorney, comes to Washington to find out why his brother was murdered – and what it had to do with the crime that Harms committed twenty-five years before. But the one man who can help john, the one man who knows what really happened more than two decades ago – and why – has escaped from prison and is running for his life

Baldacci can really spin a great tale. The Simple Truth fits that to a “t.” USA Today said, “Compelling...finely drawn...a page-turner worth losing sleep over.” I absolutely agree. Look, if you like thrillers, suspense, mysteries or just plain well-written literature and haven't read Baldacci, you are missing a treat. I give it an A.

The October 2019 Winner #3 is:

Pam Barber

Recent and Upcoming New Releases:Check out the prices following the title of the book. Those prices are the publisher's prices. The Book Rack price is normally 20% lower. When you pick it up at the store there is no shipping cost, though we can also ship it to you. Order now by calling the store or stopping in. We do ask for prepaymenton all special orders.

You can also add any of these titles to your request list. Some will come in soon and others may take a while, but most will get to you eventually.

Hardcover and Trade Paperback

Robin Carr – Virgin River – 27.99

Stephen Chbosky – Imaginary Friends – 30.00

Michael Crichton – The Andromeda Evolution – 29.99

Nelson DeMille – The Deserter – 28.99

Christine Feehan – Dark Illusion, A Carpathian Novel – 27.00

Nicci French – The Lying Room – 15.99

John Grisham – The Guardians – 29.95

Peter Hamilton – Salvation Lost – 32.00

Elin Hilderbrand – What Happens in Paradise – 28.00

Susan Isaacs – Takes One to Know One – 26.00

Elton John – Me, Elton John Official Autobiography – 30.00

Robert Jordan – Warrior of the Altaii – 27.99

Raymond Khoury – Empire of Lies – 27.99

William Kent Krueger – This Tender Land – 27.00

John LeCarre' – Agent Running in the Field – 29.00

Steven Livingston – Barack and Joe – 28.00

Susan Mallery – Meant to be Yours – 27.99

Jojo Moyes – The Giver of Stars – 28.00

Joyce Carol Oates – Pursuit, A Novel of Suspense – 23.00

Jodi Picoult – A Spark of Light – 17.00

Rand Paul – The Case Against Socialism – 28.99

Nora Roberts – Of Blood and Bones: Chronicles of the One, Book2 – 17.99

John Sandford – Bloody Genius, A Virgil Flowers Novel – 29.00

Danielle Steel – Child's Play – 28.99

Jacqueline Winspear – The Mapping of Love and Death, A Maisie Dobbs Novel – 10.00

Stuart Woods – Stealth, A Stone Barrington Novel – 28.00

Trivia for OctoberWho is the subject of the unauthorized 1997 biography

entitled The Good, the Bad and the Very Ugly?

Answer:

Clint Eastwood. The bio was written by his ex-girlfriend Sondra Locke.

Mass Market PaperbackMichael Connelly – Dark Sacred Night, A Renee Ballard and HarryBosch Novel – 9.99

Robert Crais – The Monkey's Raincoat, An Elvis Cole and Joe Pike Novel – 9.99

Joanne Fluke – Christmas Cake Murder – 7.99

Frederick Forsyth – The Fox – 9.99

Terry Goodkind – Siege of Stone – 9.99

Heather Graham – The Stalking, Krewe of Hunters – 8.99

Elin Hilderbrand – Winter Solstice – 7.99

William Johnstone - Have Brides, Will Travel – 7.99

James Patterson – Target Alex Cross – 9.99

Nora Roberts – Year One – 8.99

John Sandford – Holy Ghost – 9.99

John Scalzi – The Consuming Fire – 9.99

Gena Showalter – Frost and Flame, Gods of War – 8.99

S.M. Stirling – The Sky-Blue Wolves, The Final Novel of the Change – 9.99

David Weber – Uncompromising Honor – 9.99

Scott Westerfield – Impostors – 12.99

Sherryl Woods – Christmas at White Pines – 8.99

Stuart Woods – Wild Card – 9.99

The October 2019 Winner #4 is:

Amy Brady